This American Life and Job Creation

The public radio show This American Life devoted an hour-long episode to how politicians and governments attempt to create jobs.

The show interviewed Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker about his campaign promise to create 250,000 jobs during his first term and then interviewed an economist who pointed out that 190,000 jobs would be created if the government made absolutely no effort to create them.

The show also attended an economic developers conference in San Diego. In talking with economic developers from around the country, the show discovers that rather than creating new jobs, economic developers most often engage in stealing jobs from other states.